1 Kings 13:15 – Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread.

1 Kings 13:16 – And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee: neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place:

1 Kings 13:17 – For it was said to me by the word of the Lord, Thou shalt eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou camest.

1 Kings 13:18 – He said unto him, I am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him.

Hello readers, hope you’ve begun the new week well! Today we are talking about beware the old pro. What’s all this about? Well I’d recommend reading 1 Kings 13 first because that’s what this blog is on. Basically put, there was a man of God who God had told to go and prophesy judgement against king Jeroboam’s false religious system. And God said after you do that, get out of there and don’t stop for food or water until you’re home. Well the man of God obeyed, he did what God told him. Things were going so well. He obeyed God’s word, and he was very courageous, his word had a lot of power. You see, when you obey God’s word, God will bless that, our power comes from standing on God’s word. In order to stand on God’s word, you have to know it first, and boy this man of God knew the word of God. But you gotta obey it yourself. And you may obey it once, but what happens the next time?

This nameless man of God is a warning to any Christian today. He obeyed God’s word, he prophesied against the altar, he gave the sign, and when the king offered him to come home and refresh himself and have a reward… he said flat out no… because God’s word said not to. Simple. So this guy stuck to God’s word in the face of a very tempting offer from a king. He was doing so well!

But it was the old pro that got him. An old prophet heard what had happened, and he wanted the man of God to come home with him for something to eat. So it was an offer just like what the king made. But where the man obeyed God in not going home with the king, he disobeyed God because he believed a lie the old prophet said to get him to go home with him to eat bread. Beware the old pro. You may obey God today and tomorrow, but what will it be like next week? This man of God obeyed God to the letter and was nearly home, the old prophet got on his ass and found him sitting down, taking a break on his journey home. When we sit down, and rest on our laurels, it’s danger time.

In Christianity today we see a lot of what happened here. People calling themselves Christians, people who have been in religion a long time… they cause actual men of God to stumble and fall. They cause people to doubt, depart from and disobey God’s word. How’d the old prophet succeed where Jeroboam did not? Well he said, I’m a prophet like you. I’m one of you. I’m on your side. And God told me this. We live in a pluralistic Christianity where everyone’s got their own version of what God has said. Like God is some double minded liar. Which he isn’t. We’ve lost our handle on God’s word, because we’ve been done in by the old pros of religious Bible correctors and a bunch of religious liars who are only going to cause you to be a trophy in Satan’s cabinet.

The old prophet said hey that’s cool, but I’ve got new orders for you. An angel told me that God’s word was to bring you back to have dinner with me! So the man of God went oh ok, let’s go. What an idiot! Although do we do any better? We can do so well, we can be on fire for God, we can be being used for God, and next minute we’ve been completely deceived by someone with a bit of seniority. God is no respecter of persons, we can tend to put stock in someone who is perceived to be something… a “somewhat” as Paul said in Galatians. We gotta stop looking at the person, and keep focusing on the message we got from God in his word. When someone’s got a different version of events, a different account of what God has said, that’s alarm bells people. There’s so many different things to learn from this. Indeed, modern Christianity is plagued by this very issue… different versions of God’s word, the pluralism of truth, where everyone’s got their own version of what God has said, from their own source. This is God just trying and proving who of us wants truth and will keep it and obey it, even in the face of the old pro. There is only one version of God’s word, just like there is one truth, one light, one Jesus Christ, one Holy Spirit, one gospel, one faith, one salvation.

This man of God knew God’s word. But he listened to an old pro. Not everyone claiming to be a Christian is one. And it doesn’t matter whether you have a “dr” or “phd” or any kind of Christian seniority to you… what matters is what God’s word says. Hey, many times God has stopped talking to the old pro. God spoke to Samuel the child, not to Eli the priest back in 1 Samuel. See, sometimes the old pro is just an old pro at disobeying and doubting God’s word himself. Sometimes the old pro is just an out to pasture Christian. What do I mean by that? Well the old pro is a castaway, he’s on the shelf, he doesn’t believe God’s word, he doesn’t know it for himself anymore, and all he’s good for is getting other men of God to fall. Many Christians are on the shelf and out to pasture, they’re good for nothing. They don’t have salt and light, they’re useless in the ministry, and in fact they’re the trap for a young man of God! There should have been serious alarm bells for this man of God, hey this guy is lying. When will we g et some wisdom. I’ve been thinking about this of late, we need wisdom from God to see through lies, to see things for what they truly are. That takes the Holy Spirit. We are safe when we stick to God’s word. He got it from the proverbial horse’s mouth, why believe a second hand version of the truth… an altered, edited, revised, more hip version of what God had said?

What has God said? Hey, that reminds us of Genesis 3. Satan… yea, hath God said? God’s word is a battleground. Paul said we are not as many which pervert the word of God. This old pro flat out lied. The Bible says let God be true and every man a liar. As soon as we agree that we are all liars, let’s hold to what God’s word says, the better we will be. There is safety in God’s word. Titles, seniority, experience blah blah, it doesn’t matter. What does God’s word say? God had said to this man what to do. It’s not enough to obey part of it, or most of it, we have got to obey all of it. Christianity is full of people who only believe half the book… but half belief is unbelief. Half obedience is disobedience. Stop listening to idiots who are getting you to doubt, getting you to disobey, getting you to depart from God’s word. And this man of God lost his way. God spoke to him at the start, but he went from knowing God’s word, to being out of the loop. You can see the confusion in Christians like this man of God, they’ve started well, but they are now so lost. They’re fumbling around, they need someone to tell it to them because they don’t get it anymore.

The fact is, this old pro said something that was different to what God had told him. The man of God KNEW God’s word. Why on earth did he believe a different version of events? Why on earth do we sell out on truth? Why do we listen to people with a different narrative contrary to the word of the Lord which we have known and believed? The lie got sold well, but it was still a lie, it was always a lie. See, when the old prophet said I’m a prophet like you, that’s what got him. It’s wolves among the sheep that devour many. They devour your faith, testimony, walk with God, usefulness to God. That lion that killed his disobedient man of God, it stood by his carcase. Satan will make a show of our lives… when a Christian falls, that’s just like Saul’s head being fastened in the temple of Dagon. You’re a notch on Satan’s belt. Deception is a killer, we need to pray to God to keep us from being deceived. It may not be some Jeroboam in blatant rebellion out there who’s easy to spot, it’ll be a fake Christian who lies, who has forsaken God’s word, who doesn’t hear from God himself… that’ll be the guy that could just make you depart from the truth.

What a mistake to put stock in his seniority and title and experience. What a mistake to get so easily sucked into a lie. When will we have a heart for God’s word first. And not let someone else take it from us. Not let someone else make us doubt it, not get so easily turned aside from truth. See, many people know God’s word and they start simply believing and obeying it … but then get done in by an old pro. The old pro that doesn’t really believe God’s word, the old pro who’s been in the business a long time, the old pro who has learned to doubt and question and investigate God’s word. The old pro who doesn’t have a relationship with God himself, who’s not doing anything in life, but he’s going to drag someone else’s walk with God down. Come home with me and let’s talk all about this. He was interested in what the man of God had achieved, because he’d achieved nothing. Romans 14:1 – Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. That old pro will be the death of you. This guy paid a very high price for believing this old pro’s lie. People are fascinated by those who have the power of God on them, who God is using in life… but they’ll pull you down to where they are in a heartbeat. Into the mire of unbelief and disobedience. What a chapter this is, what a warning.

Watch pulling up your seat to a table of someone who doesn’t believe God’s word. Who will get you to doubt and disobey God’s clear express written word. Who’s table are you eating at? He had no business sitting at dinner with this guy, it was against God’s word. We gotta watch what table we are sitting at. Remember all those prophets who ate at Jezebel’s table, they were on her payroll, she had them lock, stock and barrel. She’d bought them out, she owned them. So many Christians have lost all their power because instead of dining at God’s table, we are at the table of associations, and groups, and denominations. Come and sit at the old pros table. Acceptance with the big religious crowd. Hey he didn’t want division right. He didn’t want to insult or question or disappoint a senior pro prophet. Imagine saying oh, you’re a liar, God told me this and I’m sticking to it. He didn’t want to cause any problems. He was happy to compromise to get along with someone with a bit more rank than him. Maybe he felt quite puffed up with a bit of pride, when God uses us, we can get to thinking we are something, hey I’m in the big leagues now. But no, he should’ve stuck to God’s word, even if that meant getting out of there without a big heroes farewell and thank you and adulation and audience from someone else.

This man had personal instructions from God’s word. He had no excuse. Just like we have no excuse. What condemns us is what we do with the light given to us. God’s got personal instructions for us. They’re found in God’s word, by getting in God’s word, and God’s Holy Spirit will reveal his will and plan and purpose for our life. It will be in accordance with God’s word. The more you get in God’s word, the more God’s word will come to you. It may be at any time during the day or week or month, but God will bring his word to mind, and minister it to you. Why would you believe some old pro over God’s word? God’s word has personal application to each of our own lives, but it’s the same truth, God is not a liar, God is not going to tell people things that contradict each other. His old pro LIED. An angel came and told me this. Hey here is God’s word. And he believed it. There used to be a time where there wasn’t a thousand different Bible versions, but along came some old pro’s, experts in what the Bible says, and idiots believed them. And the lion has ripped it all up in pieces, they were conquered by the devil.

The problem with compromise is, you end up the loser. You try to please others, or get along, or not offend, but you’re the only one who loses. The man of God was the big loser here. In your sin and disobedience, sinners and this Christ rejecting world feel justified about themselves. People who compromise lose everything, just as this man did. And the sad part is at the end of it, the man of God who knew the word of God… he didn’t know God’s word anymore. When you depart from God’s word, you’ll go into darkness and confusion. Sin and disobedience brings blindness and darkness. Remember Samson, a man of such power reduced to the blind grind in the Philistine prison house. You can’t see anymore, your mind is messed up. Sin ruins our fellowship with God, it takes our power and strength and witness and testimony. It messes up our thinking and knowledge, just like this old pro, you are now the student rather than the teacher. So many Christians today are a mess and the unbelieving world feels justified by their disobedience. It’s a sad state when an old pro liar has the upper hand and more of a grip on things than someone who knew the truth who departed from it.

Sin will mess you up. Sin messed Adam and Eve up, and messed everything up. Sin brings death… just as it cost this man of God his life. Departing from God’s word will murder many things in your life. To whom much is given, much is required. When we have the light, when we know the truth, we have a responsibility to obey it and keep it. Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, God sent an evil spirit upon Saul because Saul rebelled against God, and Saul went from knowing God’s word to seeking some direction and knowledge of what to think and do… from a witch! That’s how muddled you can get when you swerve out of the right way. So many people who once knew the truth but disobeyed it, they’re spectators while God is using someone else, while they’re out to pasture. There’s no direction for them from God, they’ve been separated by their sin and disobedience, and they’re powerless and weak and lost and spiritually blind and naked. You will only be useful to God if you know his word and obey it, if you are single eyed and single minded toward him.

This old pro said, hey I’m one of you, I’m just like you and God’s told me this… that’s what did him in. This man of God bowed to what someone else said about what God had said. Even though he knew what God had said. It didn’t matter what anyone on earth said, even if it an angel had told the prophet… he knew God’s word… he should’ve just obeyed God’s word. God doesn’t contradict himself, he doesn’t lie. It’s time to beware of the old pros of religion, the old pros of doubt and deception, the old pros who come with an invitation to dine and the extended arms of friendship, fellowship, endorsement, acceptance, validation and approval. We need God’s validation, God’s approval, we need to get a heart that puts God’s word at one, which puts God at his highest, because he is the most High. Let God be true and every man a liar. We need to stop getting sucked in, we need to stop being deceived, we need to get settled in on the truth of God’s word and we need to beware of the old religious pro.

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